The measure sought to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Those who chose to use it for medical purposes would have been free from legal penalty. A group called Arkansans for Compassionate Care were sponsors of the proposed law, which was formally called, "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act," according to the ballot title.[1][2]

According to reports, patients with possession of cards issued by the state Department of Health would have been allowed to purchase and carry marijuana for medical purposes. Medical marijuana would have been purchased from dispensaries or patients could have grown the cannabis plant themselves, but only a maximum of six plants per person.[3]

Text of measure

Popular name

Ballot title

“

An act making the medical use of marijuana legal under Arkansas state law, but acknowledging that marijuana use, possession, and distribution for any purpose remain illegal under federal law; establishing a system for the cultivation, acquisition and distribution of marijuana for qualifying patients through nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries and granting those nonprofit dispensaries limited immunity; allowing localities to limit the number of nonprofit dispensaries and to enact reasonable zoning regulations governing their operations; providing that qualifying patients, their designated caregivers and nonprofit dispensary agents shall not be subject to criminal or civil penalties or other forms of discrimination for engaging in or assisting with the patients’ medical use of marijuana; authorizing limited cultivation of marijuana by qualifying patients or designated caregivers if a qualifying patient lives more than five miles from the nearest nonprofit dispensary; authorizing compensation for designated caregivers; requiring that in order to become a qualifying patient, a person submit to the state a written certification from a physician that he or she is suffering from a qualifying medical condition; establishing an initial list of qualifying medical conditions; directing the department of health to establish rules related to the processing of applications for registry identification cards, the operations of nonprofit dispensaries, and the addition of qualifying medical conditions if such additions will enable patients to derive therapeutic benefit from the medical use of marijuana; setting maximum registration fees for nonprofit dispensaries; establishing qualifications for registry identification cards; establishing standards to ensure that qualifying patient and designated caregiver registration information is treated as confidential; directing the department of health to provide the legislature annual quantitative reports about the medical marijuana program; setting certain limitations on the use of medical marijuana by qualifying patients; establishing an affirmative defense for the medical use of marijuana; establishing registration and operation requirements for nonprofit dispensaries; setting limits on the amount of marijuana a nonprofit dispensary may cultivate and the amount of marijuana a nonprofit dispensary may dispense to a qualifying patient; prohibiting certain conduct by and imposing certain conditions and requirements on physicians, nonprofit dispensaries, nonprofit dispensary agents, qualifying patients, and designated caregivers; establishing a list of felony offenses which preclude certain types of participation in the medical marijuana program; and allowing visiting qualifying patients suffering from qualifying medical conditions to utilize the Arkansas medical marijuana program.[5]

”

Support

Supporters

Ryan Denham, campaign director for the initiative sponsor group Arkansans for Compassionate Care, stated, "We want to ensure that sick and dying patients in Arkansas have the ability to get the medicine they need and that is sometimes medical marijuana."[6]

Ryan Denhem also stated, "It's common sense. It's time to have a policy like this in Arkansas...If that passes, it will allow patients a safe environment, a tightly regulated, controlled environment, to purchase medical marijuana with a doctor's supervision."[7]

Paul Coody, who is a paraplegic Navy veteran, said: "I'm a veteran right now who is facing homelessness now because I show positive on marijuana...We've got somebody like me who was living independently but will now be put on the streets because I simply sought to manage my care in the most effective, safe way possible."[8]

Arkansas resident Kathy Michaud, who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C 25 years ago, stated, "The marijuana is the only thing I could get to help me eat." Michaud's husband, Laughingbear, commented on how he obtained the marijuana, stating, "If I had to go through it again, I would do it. I would buy marijuana off the street until it's legal and keep my wife alive. I love her that much."[9]

Opposition

Opponents

Fayetteville, Arkansas resident Roger Murphy was against the measure, and was quoted as saying, "This is not California. This is a safe town. You start promoting that and legalizing that for medical purposes and then it's going to lead to something else and then something else and then it's going to be worse than what it is."[1]

The Family Council Action Committee (FCAC) was against the measure.[10]

Arkansas GovernorMike Beebe stated he was against the proposal, saying, "I just don’t think I’m going to vote for it. I worry about whether or not it would be abused."[11]

Arguments

Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, argued: "Any individual who can acquire, grow or own his own marijuana is one step away from sharing with his friends who may not have any medical issues."[6]

Cox also stated: "This is about legalizing marijuana. It's just a matter of legalizing it in degrees. I think you'd find, if you asked around, that a lot of the same folks who support this support total legalization of marijuana for any purpose. I believe their real agenda is to have marijuana be as legally available as tobacco."[10]

Controversy

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox claimed during the week of October 18, 2012 that his group was getting threats from supporters of Issue 5. The group, which opposed the measure, reported that it increased security after receiving these alleged threats. According to Cox, "Security has been an ongoing concern ever since state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney was brutally murdered at the office next door to ours in 2008, but we have taken additional precautions recently due to all the vitriol coming from folks who want to legalize marijuana...It doesn't matter if ninety-nine out of a hundred people don't make good on their threats. If one person does, that changes everything."[12]

Other perspectives

State Sen.Randy Laverty stated that he usually supported marijuana, but that he was undecided on the measure, stating, "I don't know if Arkansas is ready for medicinal marijuana or not. But if they are, I doubt they would want open dispensaries on the corners in various towns."[13]

Lawsuits

Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values challenge

After verifying that supporters had turned in enough signatures, Arkansas election officials placed the measure on the fall ballot. But, a coalition of conservative groups called the Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values filed a lawsuit against the measure with the Arkansas Supreme Court on August 31. The lawsuit asked that the measure either be stricken from the ballot or that votes for it not be counted. The coalition argued that initiative backers failed to inform voters that even if the measure was approved, medical marijuana users could face prosecution under federal law.[14]

The Arkansas Supreme Court stated on September 13, 2012, that it would not hear oral arguments from either side of the lawsuit. Justices denied the requests by both sides, which filed those requests the day before.[15]

On Thursday, September 27, the court ruled in favor of keeping the measure on the ballot. In response to the coalition's argument that the measure failed to properly inform voters, the court wrote, "We hold that it is an adequate and fair representation without misleading tendencies or partisan coloring. Therefore, the act is proper for inclusion on the ballot at the general election on Nov. 6, 2012, and the petition is therefore denied."[16]

Path to the ballot

Supporters were required to collect at least 62,507 by July 6, 2012 in order to get the measure on the ballot. Arkansas ballot law mandates that the ballot measure title must be approved by the Arkansas Attorney General before going into circulation.

On February 25, 2011, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel rejected the proposal, saying that the measure was too ambiguous. Supporters were given the option of re-submitting the proposal. The proposal was submitted again by supporters, but was again rejected on March 14, 2011.

Another submission of ballot language occurred, resulting in another rejection by Arkansas Attorney GeneralDustin McDaniel on March 30, 2011. In that rejection of the ballot title, McDaniel stated in his opinion to the group, "Your use of the word ‘legal’ fails to acknowledge that your proposed measure cannot completely legalize marijuana in Arkansas for medical purposes because the drug remains illegal under federal law." Then on April 18, 2011, revised ballot language was finally approved by the attorney general, allowing supporters to circulate petitions and collect signatures.[17][18][19]

You can read the attorney general's official opinion, giving approval of the title, here.

According to the Arkansas Secretary of State's office, signatures were filed by the deadline. However, supporters of the potential statewide question were allowed 30 additional days to circulate petitions after it was found by the Arkansas Secretary of State's office that not enough valid signatures were collected. Organizers had until August 13 to obtain the additional signatures needed. On that day, supporters turned in additional signatures for the measure, stating confidence in the number of signatures that were submitted. A spokesman for the state secretary of state commented that signatures could be verified by the end of August 2012. Eventually on August 22, 2012, the initiative was found to have enough signatures for the ballot.[20][21][22]